Verbal, Real Brickbats Fly in Florida Election Protests

An unlikely Republican army of well-heeled protesters took to the streets anew Friday, adding an angry, unpredictable element to the recount drama in South Florida.

Carrying homemade signs and wearing T-shirts reading “Bush Recount Team,” hundreds of button-down rebels from Miami’s suburbs--and from as far away as Oregon and Rhode Island--shouted down Democrats. Overnight, someone hurled a brick through the front window of a local Democratic Party headquarters.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman likened Republican protesters to a “mob” Friday, saying they had pressured officials in Miami-Dade County into abandoning their vote recount earlier this week. Six Democratic congressmen called on the U.S. Justice Department to investigate Republicans’ actions as potential violations of federal election law.

It was unclear who was coordinating the escalating GOP demonstrations outside the Broward County Courthouse and the Emergency Operations Center in Palm Beach County, where recounts continue.

On Friday, some state and national Republican Party activists milled among the crowds at the courthouse here, passing out signs and T-shirts, and buying food for protesters. Many GOP loyalists said they have joined the demonstrations out of a growing sense of outrage. They accuse Vice President Al Gore of “stealing” the election and say that Republicans must take to the streets like Democratic groups do to stop him.

“I’ve never come to anything like this before,” said Vicky Kakas, 43, a self-described “mild-mannered housewife,” who shouted slogans Friday outside the Broward County Courthouse while her 2-year-old son sat in a stroller, sucking his thumb. “I wanted to stand for what is right.”

Kakas and her son were part of a pro-Bush crowd of 300 at the courthouse, outnumbering a group of Gore supporters by about 10 to 1. About 100 more GOP protesters--with signs, flags and “Sore Loserman” shirts--massed Friday in West Palm Beach.

In Fort Lauderdale, many supporters of Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican presidential candidate--said they had received automated phone calls from local GOP officials urging them to rally outside the courthouse.

Broward County residents like Kakas were only a part of the crowd here: The GOP faithful came by the busload. There also was a smattering of Cuban American activists from Miami--among the most vociferous of South Florida Republicans.

‘Deciding Between Socialism, Democracy’

And there were many out-of-state activists who have spent the last week or so here as political tourists. By day, they’ve demonstrated and sometimes worked as volunteer GOP monitors of recounts in three South Florida counties. By night, they’ve gone club-hopping and simply enjoyed the balmy tropical weather.

Rick Nelson, a 44-year-old surgeon from Oklahoma City, said that, after a few days of watching the drama unfold on television, he hopped on a plane for Florida to “be a part of history.”

“I left on the spur of the moment because I saw the urgency,” Nelson said. He called about 20 patients to cancel appointments, telling them he’d be gone for a week. “What we’re doing here is deciding between socialism and democracy.”

On Wednesday, Nelson was part of the crowd of Republicans that stormed the 19th floor of the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, pounding on doors and throwing the meeting of the county’s canvassing board into chaos. Wednesday afternoon, the board gave up its recount, saying there wasn’t enough time to finish by the Sunday deadline set by the Florida Supreme Court.

“We turned around the election in Dade County,” Nelson said proudly. “It was a bunch of people who really cared.” After that triumph, he celebrated with a group of newfound GOP friends at Liquid, the Miami Beach nightclub frequented by pop singer Madonna.

Another protester, Tim Johnson of Alexandria, Va., quipped: “You wonder what the turnout would be if they were doing a recount in Iowa.”

When Johnson hopped in a car with three friends and headed south, it was a nippy 38 degrees in Virginia. In South Florida, it is much hotter, in a literal and figurative sense. Passions are running high.

“It’s good to see Republicans get outraged,” Johnson said.

Sometimes, the mood outside the Broward County Courthouse turned ugly.

Whenever Democratic politicians tried to do TV interviews Friday in front of the courthouse, Republicans blew whistles and shouted through bullhorns to disrupt them. Local congressman Peter Deutsch, a Democrat, has had to surround himself with a cordon of police officers every time he talks to the media.

One tense moment occurred after former Sen. Bob Dole, erstwhile Republican candidate, appeared at the courthouse. As Deutsch stepped into the knot of reporters to respond to Dole’s comments, a GOP aide grabbed the congressman’s arm to hold him back.

“Keep your hands off me,” Deutsch said. “Don’t touch me.”

Deutsch characterized the Republican protesters as an “illegal mob.” Among the small crowd of Gore supporters, some held up signs calling the GOP crowd “thugs.”

Broward County Democratic Party Chairman Mitch Ceasar said a brick was thrown through the storefront window of party headquarters in the Broward County community of Plantation. A message was wrapped around the brick: “We will not tolerate illegal government.”

“I hold the Bush campaign totally responsible,” Ceasar said. “It’s a furtherance of mob rule activity in Dade County. Perhaps they were trying to send us a message. If anything, it just reaffirms that violence does not work in the U.S., and certainly not in Broward County.”

Ceasar said he would ask Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the GOP nominee’s brother, to intervene “to do what he can do to stop this Bush campaign, which seems to be marching northward” from Miami-Dade County to Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Protesters ‘Trying to Obstruct Justice’

Only a few dozen Democrats braved the relentless shouting of Republicans--”No more Gore! No more Gore!”--to show their support for their nominee at the courthouse.

Carolyn Keller, 21, saw the small knot of Gore supporters as a thin line of defense against a GOP coup.

“The Republicans are out here trying to obstruct justice,” she said. “They were intimidating people in Miami. And they’re trying to do the same thing here.”

Separated from their adversaries by two strands of yellow police tape, the Bush supporters drowned out the Democrats’ chants of “Gore won more!”

Several Bush supporters said it was refreshing to see the tables turned on the Democrats. Earlier in the recount process large numbers of Gore supporters, led by such Democratic stalwarts as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, had demonstrated in large numbers in Palm Beach County.

“The world is controlled by people who stand up and make themselves counted,” said Tim Wigley, 37, of Portland, Ore. “You’re seeing that today. You’re seeing people doing something that Republicans aren’t used to doing, which is getting out here and protesting.”

As the day wore on and the number of Bush supporters on the street slowly grew, the gathering took on a celebratory air.

More than once, the Bush supporters launched into song, belting out “God Bless America.”

And after word spread that the U.S. Supreme Court would hear the Bush campaign’s petition concerning the recount, there were loud cheers, hugs and a spirited rendition of the National Anthem.